Archive for September, 2008

Looking at our presidential candidates over the past few weeks, along with their new running mates, has caused a flurry of media attention, especially with the introduction of formerly unknown Alaskan Governor, SarahPalin. While I admit up front that I am an Obama supporter, I feel a certain due diligence is in order to review what our possibilities could be and see what we could have in store if McCain andPalin are elected.

The media has been frankly ridiculous, hanging on every comment with the right-wingers uncharacteristically pulling the sexism card at every opportunity and playing up the “downhome” quality of Palin’s background, going so far as calling her husband “The First Dude” almost exclusively. The less biased mainstream media has been pretty harsh as well, playing the usual game of digging up every possible piece of dirt that they can find. The truth is, we need to look at Palin’s qualifications and her political record thus far. Although there has been media attention focused on her past record, but much of this has been drowned out by the starry-eyed wonder with which many conservatives and women voters are looking at Palin.

The NYTimes article entitled “Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes,” is a chilling tale of secrecy, nepotism, and Bush-esque politics, describing how Palin and her staffers have used alternative communications methods outside of government email systems to be less trackable, avoid being subpoenaed, and reduce accountability. It describes how Palin has hired many friends, most without proper qualifications, to various state political positions – my favorite example is Palin’s high school classmate hired to head the Alaska Department of Agriculture who listed a “childhood love of cows” as a qualification for the job. This article, along with the now-infamous blog of Alaskan conservative Sherry Whitstein, details the strong-arming and bullying that Palin, her family, and her supporters have used to manipulate opponents in her seemingly desperate quest for political power. There are tales of phone calls from Palin’s staff, her husband and other family members with yelling, cursing, and threats, to reporters, interviewers, and opponents, basically trying to bully those who speak out against her actions or policies. This tactic comes up over and over with their camp, from the librarian who she tried to get fired for not banning books, to the “Troopergate” scandal, it seems that Palin thinks it fine to use her political power inappropriately as a means to her own ends, be they “moral”, personal, or political.

Meanwhile, it seems that during Palin’s reign in Wasillia, Alaska, she reversed much of the work that was being done by the previous Mayor to limit commercial growth and reduce the pollution of the town’s lakes. UnderPalin , big-box retailers were given what sounds to be free reign, building complexes next to the lake and allowing toxic parking lot runoff to drain into an already polluted lake system. Add the pro-drilling stance, the disbelief in human-caused climate change, a bear pelt over her interview couch, and a wonderful photo of her entire family ensconced in fur, demonstrates clearly thatPalin is no friend to the environment and will choose a money-making opportunity with corporate deals regardless of any potential environmental impacts.

Deepak Chopra, M.D., the renowned mind-body physician has written an article entitled “Obama and the Palin Effect” about the psychological phenomenon that makes Palin so appealing to so many, then discusses in plain terms what she stands for:

“Small town values — a nostaligic return to simpler times disguises a denial of America’s global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.

Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America’s image abroad.

Family values — a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don’t need to be needed.

Rigid stands on guns and abortion — a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.

Patriotism — the usual fallback in a failed war.

”Reform” — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn’t fit your ideology.”

There is, unfortunately, much more to say, but The S.E.E.P.’s official position on Palin is that although she is attractive to a large section of our conservative citizens, much of her appeal is on the surface and there are some very concerning issues in how she has conducted her politics in Alaska and this is not the type of people we want leading our country, as Vice-President, or for the remote possibility of President. Her environmental record is abysmal and we can only hope that conservative Americans do not misinterpret her being “outdoorsy” and a hunter with being remotely concerned with the environment. We need more integrity and openness, we need someone who will work for the will of the people, not someone who plans to push their own personal agenda, especially if they feel that the ends justify the questionable means.

Last month Laura and I were fortunate enough to make it to see two of our favorite artists, Ben Harper at the Santa Barbara Bowl on August 22nd, and Jack Johnson at UC Santa Barbara on August 27th. Each of these trips are about a 220 mile round trip and to save money and relieve our eco-guilt, we of course drove our biodiesel vehicles in another installment of Fossil Fuel Free roadtrips. For the Ben Harper show it was just me and Laura, so we took the 2003 Jetta TDI wagon which gets 37+ miles/gallon on our homemade biodiesel. The show was fantastic, Santa Barbara Bowl is a fantastic venue, and watching Harper rock out on his slide guitar will drop your jaw in amazement as he melts your face off with his ridiculous musical talent.

For the Jack Johnson show, we carpooled with some friends and took the Vegfalia for some straight used vegetable oil transport. The Jack show was fantastic as always and as a bonus, he has the “All At Once” initiative in full swing. His mellow musical stylings always get the crowd swaying and bouncing to the beat, listening to his honest and heartfelt lyrics. The show was a bit festival-like, with the All-At-Once tent and a circle of tents housing various environmental groups as well. Impressively, the entire concert tour is striving to be carbon neutral, through biodiesel-powered tourbuses and generators and CO2 offsets. Also, there were water stations to refill your reusable bottles, discouraging bottled water, there were recycling bins next to every trash can, the concert T-shirts were organic cotton, and if you collected enough stamps from refilling your bottle, carpooling, and visiting the environmental non-profits there, you were entered to win a JJ skateboard or to get up on stage with Jack. Also, any donations to the non-profits were matched by the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation. Basically Jack Johnson is demonstrating by example that large events and tours can have minimal environmental impact and he it seems that he is successfully converting fans to be more mindful of their consumption.

Climate Change and Peak Oil

In the United States, we use over 20 million barrels of oil per day, over 7 billion barrels per year, importing more than half of this volume from Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and other oil-producing states.
In purchasing this oil from other parts of the world we put billions of dollars per year into the hands of oil shieks, outdated theocratic rulerships, radical Islamic militants, and even terrorists. The pursuit of this oil has many costs, including the billions of American tax dollars spent on a war that is largely political in order to secure our access to this resource. Already unstable, any breakdown in the current oil economy will lead to skyrocketing fuel prices for Americans. Even the experts within the oil industry predict "peak oil", that is, the highest possible global oil production, to come anywhere within the next 10-50 years. After that point the maximum amount of oil that we can pump out of the ground will decline despite the growing demand for oil for energy, plastics, gasoline, jet fuel, and the many other uses for petroleum. This is a second major reason for a fuel cost spike, that will hit our economy terribly, from which we may not ever recover.
A second major global crisis that is intimately intertwined with energy is climate change. The latest data suggests that the polar ice caps are melting even faster than previously predicted, leading to erratic weather patterns, severe droughts and floods, and rising sea levels. If our current energy consumption continues to grow as predicted, we will have set the stage for severe natural disasters displacing millions of people from their homes, killing an unestimateable number of humans and animal species, costing billions of relief dollars, as well as costing more than 5% per year of global economic growth indefinitely. These two issues go hand in hand – our voracious appetite for energy requires the burning of more and more fossil fuels which in turn leads to more of the CO2 emissions that cause global warming. This is not supposition and is not theory. It is fact. There are many resources to support these estimates and projections from leading politicians, economists, climate experts, geologists, and other experts in their fields.
What this means is that this energy crisis will occur within many of our lifetimes and all of our children's lifetimes. We cannot leave the downfall of our civilization and the scarring of our globe as a legacy to our next generation. Do not take the media’s word, or my word for that matter, research it for yourself so you understand the dire position of our current crises.